


Animal Planet

by fuzipenguin



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Affection, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Misunderstandings, Symbiotic Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-20 22:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16564154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzipenguin/pseuds/fuzipenguin
Summary: Venom both watches too much and not enough TV





	Animal Planet

                Animal Planet is enlightening.

                **I am not a dog!** Venom protests the next time Eddie’s hand lands on top of Venom’s manifested head.

                Eddie blinks down at him, sleep-stupid; he’d been up all night writing an article instead of getting rest like Venom had told him to do. Absurd human; he couldn’t even take good care of himself. It was always up to Venom.

                “You were _in_ a dog,” Eddie points out. His hand hovers over Venom’s form and Venom regrets ever telling Eddie that.

                **Yes, well… doesn’t make me one. Stop petting me,** he commands.

                Eddie squints at him and Venom feels a faint surge of fear and worry. “Does it hurt you? Have I been hurting you?” he asks, pushing himself up out of his sideways slump onto the couch arm.

                **Of course it doesn’t hurt. Are your hands suddenly made of fire?** Venom asks sarcastically.

                His host… his silly, _ridiculous_ host actually looks down at his hands before raising his gaze to meet Venom’s again. “No, of course not. Well, I’m glad it doesn’t hurt… but I had actually thought you liked it,” Eddie says. He tucks his hands under his butt and looks off to the side, eyes downcast.

                Venom does not feel bad that he made Eddie feel bad.

                He absolutely does not.

                Who is Venom kidding… he feels awful.

                **I… I didn’t… _dis_ like it…** Venom offers. **I just don’t want you thinking of me as your pet! I’m so much more than a… a… _Pomeranian!_**

                Eddie spears him with an exasperated look. “I know you’re not a Pomeranian. Although if you _were_ a dog, you’d probably be a Rottweiler.”

                He pauses and then shakes his head, a flurry of images passing though his mind. Venom makes a mental note to track them down later; he wants to know what a Rottweiler looks like. Probably something big and tough, like them.

                “Anyway, I don’t consider you a pet. You’re in my head; you’re in my body. I’ve never had a pet be able to do that.”

 **Then why do you touch me like one?** Venom demands.

                Eddie shrugs. “It’s… I like knowing you’re there.”

                Venom cocks his head to the side and stares at his host, confused. **Eddie… I’m always there. You just admitted that.**

                “Yeah, I know. But I’m new to this gig. You’ve jumped hosts multiple times; you know what it feels like to… absorb into one, or whatever it is you do. I’m still learning. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between you and indigestion.”

 **Indigestion?! First I’m a parasite and now I’m heartburn?!** Venom exclaims in irritation.

                Eddie rolls his eyes and sighs. Then he leans forward and grabs hold of Venom’s main tendril. Venom allows it, even reluctantly permits Eddie to reposition him until he’s lying draped over Eddie’s lap and chest, head on his shoulder. Eddie slings a casual arm over Venom’s mass and relaxes back into the couch.

                “I guess it’s dumb,” he says to the television screen, steadfastly ignoring Venom’s manifested face staring up at him. “I mean, I knew when you were gone. That felt like…”

                Like the cold ache of an endless abyss, Venom thought, remembering how it felt to be parted from Eddie, even for those brief moments.

                Eddie shakes his head and purses his lips. “I know the difference. I know you’re there; I can always feel you there. But we’re a species that likes to touch. It… reassures us.”

                Venom ponders it while Eddie falls silent. There had always a low level thrum of happiness when Eddie stroked him before. A kind of deep, visceral joy. And before Venom had watched that Animal Planet show about pet doctors, he hadn’t minded the touches in the slightest. In fact, he had quite enjoyed them, until he had learned that humans touched their pets like that.

                Of course, he had no ears to scratch, no belly to rub. Eddie just laid a hand on him and absently moved his thumb back and forth or stroked the equivalent of his neck.

                Similar to, but not _exactly_ the same way the people on the television petted their animals. And Venom likes the idea that Eddie wants to remind himself that Venom is there.

 **You may continue to touch me like you did before,** Venom announces magnanimously. **But I am not a dog.**

                “You’re definitely not a dog,” Eddie solemnly says. His arm presses the bulk of Venom closer to his body and Venom sprawls out, bits of him dripping off the back of the couch behind Eddie’s head and over his knees.

                His host really is the most comfortable host he’s ever had.

                “Hey, buddy? Can you grab me a bottle of water from the fridge?” Eddie asks a moment later.

 **Of course, Eddie. Staying hydrated, excellent,** Venom replies, immediately shooting out a tentacle to perform the task. He’s found that Eddie soaks up praise like a sponge, even for small silly things. If it’ll ensure that he takes care of himself, then Venom is all for it.

                He drops the bottle into Eddie’s awaiting hands, and he is suddenly awash in amusement. Eddie chuckles and pats the portion of Venom that is draped over his thighs.

                “Good boy… good fetch,” he says, the corners of his mouth curving up in laughter.

                It takes Venom a moment.

                Then he promptly smothers Eddie’s face in a blanket of writhing black, vowing to find a new host immediately.

 

                (he doesn’t. Eddie is Venom's, no matter how stupid and ridiculous he is)

 

~ End

               


End file.
